The present invention relates to photonics chips and, more specifically, to waveguiding structures for a and methods of fabricating a waveguiding structure.
Photonics chips are used in many applications and systems including, but not limited to, data communication systems and data computation systems. A photonics chip integrates optical components, such as waveguides and bends, and electronic components, such as field-effect transistors, into a unified platform. Among other factors, layout area, cost, and operational overhead may be reduced by the integration of both types of components.
On-chip communication and sensing may rely on transferring optical signals through waveguides on the photonics chip to other optical components. Optical signals propagate as electromagnetic waves within waveguides using a number of different modes characterized by different properties. Waveguides, as well as other optical components, may include cores that are fabricated from silicon nitride or single-crystal silicon. Losses in silicon waveguides tend to be considerably higher than losses in silicon nitride waveguides.
Improved waveguiding structures and methods of fabricating a waveguiding structure are needed.